Blaming 'Anglo-Saxon' capitalism will not help José Manuel Barroso, president
of the European Commission, solve the euro crisis

Every time Europe’s leaders appear to have reached the limits of arrogance and delusion, they raise the bar just that little bit higher. At the G20 conference in Mexico, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, rounded on a Canadian journalist who asked why North America should pay for Europe’s folly. “Frankly,” he said, “we are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy. This crisis was not originated in Europe … [it] originated in North America, and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from… the financial market.”

In the light of the behaviour of French and German bankers, Spanish and Irish property developers, Greek and Italian businessmen and so many others during the heady years of the credit-fuelled boom, this statement was downright idiotic. It was also nakedly hypocritical, given that the European elite arrived in Mexico armed with one of the largest begging bowls in history – a plan to increase the International Monetary Fund’s war chest to $456 billion, to prepare the world for a potential meltdown of the eurozone.

Since the beginning of this crisis, Mr Barroso and his colleagues have attempted to blame the euro’s structural flaws, and the profligacy of many of its members, on “Anglo-Saxon capitalism”, whether in the form of sub-prime mortgage brokers, “vulture” hedge funds or the moguls of Wall Street and the City. Railing against outsiders, and proposing punitive taxes on financial transactions, might play well with the European public, but they do nothing to resolve the eurozone’s problems – or to win friends beyond the EU’s borders. Avoiding a calamitous outcome to this crisis will be hard enough as it is. It will be nigh on impossible if Mr Barroso and his colleagues insist on burying their heads so firmly in the sand.